On Twitter, Ms Pao said Ms Fowler’s blog post shows “the state of tech in one woman’s story, also the story of many women, many people at many companies”.

‘Errors of judgment’

Discrimination is difficult to quantify – especially when victims are unwilling to speak out.

Yet on top of Ms Pao’s case, there have been several high-profile lawsuits and sudden exits in the tech world in recent years:

In 2014, former Tinder executive Whitney Wolfe sued the dating app, claiming she was called a “slut” and a “whore” by Tinder marketing chief Justin Mateen, and denied her rightful title of co-founder because she was a woman. She received a settlement worth $1m (£800,000)

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Image caption Whitney Wolfe, former Tinder executive, claimed she was harassed at the company – but went on to found competitor Bumble

Tom Preston-Werner, founder of the social coding site GitHub, resigned in 2014 after a sexual harassment investigation. No legal wrongdoing was found, but the company said there had been “evidence of mistakes and errors of judgment”

Kelly Ellis, a software engineer at Google for more than four years, levelled shocking allegations of harassment against the company on Twitter in 2015, saying senior colleagues had made unprofessional comments about her appearance. These allegedly included one superior telling her during a company trip to Maui that it was “taking all of [his] self control not to grab” her

How does tech compare to other industries?

Comparing results from different studies with different questions can be problematic – but there are some hints that Silicon Valley has a problem.

Statistics on sexual harassment vary widely, but an extensive 1992 US national study found that 41% of women had experienced it; and about 40-50% of women in the EU, according to the United Nations.

Both estimates are still lower than the Silicon Valley survey’s 60%.

The 2016 Women in the Workplace study – a major US national survey – found that 19% of the technology sector’s top executives are women – broadly in line with sectors like banking, media, or professional services.

The same study found that, across all industries, 30% of women who negotiated for a promotion or a better salary were told they were “bossy” “aggressive” or “intimidating”.

In the Elephant in the Valley survey, that rocketed to 84% of women being told they were aggressive (though that question was not specifically about negotiation).

What’s being done for gender balance?

The world’s biggest tech companies know they’re dominated by white men, and many are funding schemes to address that.

In its annual diversity and inclusion report, Apple said it had closed pay gaps over the past year by analysing salaries, bonuses and stock grants.

Facebook has pledged to give $15m (£12m) to Code.org, a non-profit group teaching young women and underrepresented minorities how to write computer code.

19% of Google’s tech workforce is female, compared to 31% within the whole firm

23% of Apple’s technology staff are women – and 32% of its global total, including retail

17% of Facebook’s technology team are women, it says – and 33% of all its staff

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And in 2015, Google told USA Today it would invest $150m (£120m) in workforce diversity initiatives that year, up from $115m in 2014.

At the moment, 23% of Apple’s tech employees are women. At Google, it’s 19%. And at Facebook, just 17%.

Change comes slowly in companies of this size, so the path could be a long one.

But by broadening the pool of people qualified to work there, Silicon Valley is hoping to change the status quo.